In the autumn of 2016 the endlessly creative Michael Novo from La Brasserie du Mont Saleve made the journey from the mountains of Haute Savoie to the lowlands of tropical Picardy (l'Oise) for a collaboration brew.

We wanted to try a 100% Brettanomyces fermentation which neither brewery had attempted before. I had kept alive the Orval-derived Brettanomyces Bruxellensis culture that had been used in the Time and Tide brew with Grand Paris and upon tasting a glass of beer that resulted from this propagation Michael had the idea of cutting up and adding freshly harvested Colapuy apples to the glass. This variety of small red apple originally from Crimea is well adapted to the Picardy orchards and can be used in cider production. It is less popular than before due to its small size and the unreliable annual harvest. The apples are however very juicy and aromatic.

We brewed a golden ale @ 1052 original gravity (13°Plato) with pale ale, light munich and acid malts and around 15% flaked oats; hopping was fairly discreet at around 25IBUs. The primary fermentation was very long and steady and a test of patience and even faith for a British brewer! After three weeks with the gravity near 1009 the beer was chilled to leave some fermentable sugars for a slow secondary fermentation is casks with the addition of apple juice.

Brew in motion

Brettanomyces strain used for primary fermentation. Notice the Brett polymorphism (cells are all different shapes)

Pulling a sample from a cask infused with the same strain

About a month later a viisit to a Picardy Cidrerie to collect freshly pressed apple juice

Mashed colapuy apples left overnight before pressing to allow oxidation

About 75 litres of apple juice was collected and allowed to start fermenting for a few days before being split into 3 casks with the addition of the base beer. This contributed fermentable sugar as well as some indigenous microorganisms from the apples.

The fermentables from the apple juice and those left over from the brewery wort were consumed over the next couple of months before a period of inactivity during the winter.. With the arrival of spring the beer reawoke for a late flurry before going silent. A final gravity reading of just under 1°Plato was judged low enough to bottle the beer without too much fear of exploding bottles. Fresh yeast + sugar was added for bottle conditioning and the beer at last ready to taste at the end of May.

The final result presents an inviting golden ale with notes of fresh apple and farmhouse cider; the apple juice and barrel ageing have lent a certain roundness to the original beer. With a bit of time in the glass the initial cidery aromas give way to a more rustic / farmhouse character from the Brett. However as is apparently the case when using Brett in a primary fermentation the wild character is not overstated. The finish is relatively dry with a dash of spices.

Initial tastings point to an obvious pairing with the classic French desert Tarte Tatin ideally served with Madagascar vanilla ice cream.

As for the label design this was a result of a coincidental visit to Plessier de Roye by two Australian descendants of the artist Raphaël Lardeurwho made the beautiful stained glass windows in the village church in the 1930's.

The beer will be available soon either directly at the two respective breweries or from the usual cave a bières / cavistes / restaurants etc.

This beer was brewed in collaboration with Les Brasseurs du Grand Paris and the microbiologist Nick Malmquist. We brewed with a portion of dark crystal malt and roasted barley and aged hops to give a ruby colored ale with low bitterness and a fruity and nutty character from the malt and my British yeast blend. The mash included flaked oats and was conducted at a very high temperature (72°C) in order to yield a relatively difficult to ferment wort with a high finishing gravity after the primary fermentation, the idea being to leave residual sugars for the next stage - a long maturation in Burgundian red wine casks with an infusion of Brettanomyces yeast for the first few months and lactic acid bacteria for the last few. The Brett strain chosen was of the Bruxellensis species and was derived from a bottle of Orval, the famous Trappist beer that develops notes of cherries and a rustic character after several months of bottle conditioning. We thought that the aromas of red fruit from the Pinot Noir casks would blend well with the wild yeast notes and dark malt flavors.

This was my first foray into 'wild' beers and it has been interesting to taste throughout the process with the additional layers of complexity added at each stage before bottling.

Most beers take a few weeks to make - this one required a bit more patience..

Here's a photographic timeline -

November 2015 - Voyage to Burgundy to visit old friends and

pick up a few casks prevouisly used for Chassagne Montrachet rouge

Merci à Mr. Yves Rodet

Burgundian vines in the autumn

20th December 2015 - Anthony Baraff and Nick Malmquist during the brew inspecting some old hops (specifically chosen so as to deter the growth of undesirable bacteria but not inhibit lactic acid bacteria as a result of oxidation a alpha acids)

The thimble in place - British innovation at its finest

Adding a 'thimble' to the fermentation vessel before casting the wort much to Mr. Barraf's amusement

3 weeks later tasting the resulting beer after fermentation and conditioning.

November 2016 - the beer was racked into a tank and bottled with the addition of fresh yeast and sugar. After a further 3 weeks we could finally taste the carbonated beer.

All that effort is worthy of a classy label!

The finished beer equates more or less with our initial vision of it - red berry fruity notes from the Brett and the extraction of pinot noir character and some subtle oak blend beautifully with the original clean ruby ale. One major difference - we imagined the gravity drop in the cask would have been much more significant and given in a drier beer - in reality the Brettanomyces struggled to eat much of the very unfermentable liquid it was pitched into; perhaps another strain would have faired better or maybe the mash temperature employed could have been lower to make the residual sugars slightly more digestible. However despite the difficulty in assimilating the remaining carbohydrates the Brett did manage to impart plenty of classic rustic and fruity character probably as a result of the metabolism of other components of the young beer. The acidity from the bacteria is present but relatively restrained in part due to the contrasting residual sweetness from the malt (the final gravity of the beer is around 3.5°Plato, higher than the 0.5° we anticipated).

Overall we're delighted with the outcome - at 4.8% ABV this is a relatively low alcohol beer full of flavor and subtle nuances. It will be interesting to see how it evolves in the bottle but is ready to drink now fresh so to speak!

Regarding the name we chose Time and Tide from the expression 'Time and tide wait for no man', the meaning of which is that no man can slow down or prevent the passing of time or the rise and fall of the tide. We thought this was particularly apt for a beer that took this long to make and whose development was relatively difficult to control.